Three former employees of Humane Society of the Black Hills say the former director of operations plotted to unseat the past two directors so she could be hired for the position.

The former operations director, Kim Berger, denies those claims, alleging that Humane Society board president Katy Stulc maneuvered the resignations so she could hire a friend.

Despite the conflicting charges, the former Humane Society employees agree a high level of mistrust and frustration has developed among coworkers and the board of directors as the society has now hired its third executive director this year.

The former employees allege that Berger, who started at the shelter in December and quit last weekend, worked to get former directors Phil Olson and Steve Hawley fired so she could have the job.

Two of them, contacted separately by the Journal, said they were together when Berger told them she was going to get a friend on the board of directors to help her get Olson fired. Both employees spoke on condition of anonymity.

One of those employees said Berger started calling the board to complain about Olson two weeks after she started.

"She kind of took steps to get the job," the former employee said. When Olson left his job, "I knew that it was a direct result of her actions."

Berger was a candidate for the executive director job in June, but the board hired Steve Hawley.

A third former employee, Jennie Smith of Rapid City, also believes Berger conspired to get the job and received support from the current board president.

"Kim made it perfectly clear that she was going to have Phil's position," Smith said. Smith said she was in the room when Stulc, then a board member, told Berger that Stulc would help her get the job.

"We just have to post it for two weeks so no one can question us," Smith heard Stulc tell Berger. Smith also said Berger later tried to get Hawley fired. After he was hired, Smith said that Berger told her: "Trust me, he won't be there much longer. I'll make sure of that."

Hawley resigned July 24 after five weeks on the job. During that time, sexual harassment charges were made, but an investigation conducted by an independent human resources professional hired by the board found that the charges did not constitute sexual harassment.

Berger said she did not file the claim, that it came from a group of four women at the shelter.

"I was one of the only females there who didn't file a complaint," she said. "Steve was very kosher with me."

She admitted that, at one time she did want to be the director but said she didn't try to unseat Olson or Hawley. Berger contends current board president Stulc did that. Before Stulc was a board member, she was one of a group of volunteers who lobbied the board to terminate Olson, according to Berger.

After Olson left, "They told me they weren't going to advertise for the job and I would have the job," Berger said. "Then, they decided that legally, through their bylaws, they had to advertise. So they just chose to advertise for two weeks in the Rapid City Journal."

Berger said she wasn't asked to submit any application materials and that she worked as interim director for 11 weeks, waiting to find out if she had the job. She was surprised when Hawley was hired.But Berger described working for Hawley as "fine" and said she had nothing to do with his departure. Berger said the board fired Hawley because they saw him as a liability after the harassment claim and because he authorized shelter spending without board approval. Stulc and Hawley maintain he resigned but decline to talk about it. Berger said she was told to issue his final paycheck a week before Hawley's departure at the July 24 board meeting.

But board members didn't want to say he was fired, Berger said, because "they were all worried about them looking stupid" after "they made him look so grand in the media."

"Steve and Katy had different stories about who asked who to resign," Berger said. "Steve said the board asked him to say he resigned. Katy said he asked if he could resign."

"I don't know if it was (Stulc) didn't like him, or she just wanted her buddy in there."

That "buddy," according to Berger, was new director Melissa Foxworth who was hired over the weekend to replace Hawley.

Stulc said she knew new director Melissa Foxworth before she applied for the job, but the accusations are "not true." Their relationship was purely professional, she said; she had boarded her dog at Foxworth's business. Speculation that Foxworth was pre-determined as the next executive director is also fueled by Stulc's initial statement that the board would advertise nationally for a new director after Hawley's resignation.

"The more applicants that we get and the more choices that we have, it will just benefit the Humane Society," Stulc said last week. But it was a matter of days before the board hired Foxworth, who had applied for the job in June. Stulc said the board decided to move ahead quickly because leadership was needed.

"We needed to get someone down there right away to be the eyes and the ears of the board."

Stulc said it is hard to sort through the accusations and rumors flying among employees and former employees, but the board of directors is investigating all the issues surrounding the Humane Society.

"We've heard all of the same things, and I can't talk about it right now," Stulc said. "We're in the middle of looking into that. … We're in the process of gathering information and finding out what's fact and what's not fact."

Stulc said that the goal of the investigation is "just to not go down the same road, to learn from our mistakes."

Editor's note: Anonymity was granted for two former Humane Society employees in this story because these two independent sources corroborated allegations made in the story.